Main navigation

google+

As my involvement in writing content within social media for nonprofits I volunteer with increased recently, I found I was often switching between profiles when also looking into my own writing projects and personal use of social networks as well. A social media dashboard began looking more appealing.

I’ve been aware of social media dashboards for sometime. With increasing sophistication and diverse options, they can range from the limited free versions to the rather pricey. Since my needs were rather simple, but I did want several social networks and profiles capabilities within a dashboard since I’m an admin for a couple of organizations, I chose Hootsuite Pro’s trial offer. At $9.95 after the first month’s free trial, that’s likely within my budget, and it has quite a few apps (such as a Youtube one) that can be used to supplement its social profiles which include facebook, google +, twitter, LinkedIn and other networking sites as well. So far, the only omission among what I expected on first look is that google + is strictly for pages (I admin for one of those), but not for individual’s profiles or the increasingly important communities feature of google +. Still, I’m pleased with Hootsuite so far and will likely post a more experienced review sometime later.

Hootsuite does have a free version for those considering dashboards for the first time. There are also quite a few competitors in the social dashboard arena. I imagine I’ll still peruse the individual networks at a leisurely pace at times, but a social dashboard does provide a means to quickly check-in around varied work schedules and the like. If considering using social dashboards for the first time, I suggest starting with one of the free versions and make comparisons before committing to any expense.

While autumn was busy regarding hourly work, by far the most involved project was finalizing my novel for a full submission. As of this morning, Tangled Ties to a Manatee was submitted to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. Since Createspace is my current first choice for self-publication and Createspace is a division of Amazon, submitting there felt like a good fit. Plus, the ABNA contest is tied directly to Penguin, a traditional publisher, so that submission also includes seeking them out, if the novel were to do well in the competition. More on that will be forthcoming as the rounds of judging continue over the next several months.

I’ve also streamlined my activism and nonprofit volunteer efforts with Sierra Club this year. I like working with a group that get some tangible goals met (and have measures in place for when they do not.) There is some writing included in that as well, such as articles for newsletters.

Further I’ve joined google+ and see some interesting possibilities for authors and social media choices there. Doing so, I’m realizing I may need to update my good, but aging main computer – not exactly my favorite thing to consider doing. However, I’ll be looking at that more in February and hopefully see what my options are after making a decision there. Ideally, I’d like to be able to bring the social media use more prominently into this site.